The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
The flow and flow rate of fluids through an aspiration tube is of interest during operations, including ophthalmic operations. During ophthalmic microsurgery, small probes are inserted into an operative site to remove tissues and fluids may be infused into the operative site through the probes. Infusion fluids may also be aspirated from the site. Surgical cassettes may also be coupled to surgical probes, to provide for collection of aspirated fluids. Measurement of the surgical aspiration flow rate may be valuable in that it can provide for safe control of the ophthalmic surgical equipment. However, passage of air bubbles, among other factors, within the aspiration measurement devices can make measurement of the flow rate difficult to achieve.
Therefore, it would be desirable to incorporate air filtering or diverting means into a disposable surgical cassette to permit accurate measurement of flow rate by removing or greatly reducing any effect of the air bubbles.